Palm Springs Mid-Century Modernism & Cultural Highlights

The downtown Historic Tennis Club District and Movie Colony neighborhoods contain the highest concentration of signed Mid-Century Modern houses in existence — Richard Neutra's Kaufmann Desert House (1946), Albert Frey's Frey House II (1964) cantilevering over the hillside, and the E. Stewart Williams houses along Vista Chino. The Palm Springs Modern Committee's self-guided map covers 30 significant buildings within a 2-mile walk.

Palm Springs's most contested reservation — a 40-seat patio restaurant on North Palm Canyon Drive that sources everything locally and changes the menu every Friday. The bacon flight changes weekly; the short-stack pancakes are the morning anchor. Reservations open online Monday morning and fill within minutes.

The finest museum in the Coachella Valley, with a permanent collection of 20th-century California art and pre-Columbian art from Mesoamerica, and rotating exhibitions. The building (1976, E. Stewart Williams) is itself a significant piece of mid-century desert modernism, with a cactus garden designed by Eric Lloyd Wright.

The house where Elvis and Priscilla honeymooned in 1967, developed by Robert Alexander and designed by modernist architect William Krisel, now open for private tours; the round rooftop swimming pool, the 1962 kitchen intact with original fixtures, and the view of the San Jacinto escarpment from the master bedroom constitute the finest mid-century interior access in Palm Springs.

A Palm Springs culinary institution in a converted 1920s building — an open kitchen, wood-burning oven, and a seasonal California menu. The roasted bone marrow, the wood-fired flatbreads, and the house-made pasta change weekly; the cocktail program is anchored by mezcal and California spirits. The building's exposed brick and concrete are original; the renovation won a preservation award.